To Deprive a Deprived Person - Chapter 296: The waiter is coming

Five hundred years after his death, Orion awakens in the aristocratic Reyes family—one of the five ruling houses of the Petrosyan Confederacy. With both his experience and trauma from another life, he must carve his own path in a world shaped by power, technology, and ruthless ambition.On a mission to Cerros-7, in the heart of a bustling market, a woman draped in tattered veils appears before him, her ember-like eyes burning with eerie intensity. With a grip as cold as death, she seizes his hand and whispers a prophecy that sends a chill down his spine:“The sky must fall for your star to rise,A veil of despair shrouds crimson skies.Through ash and ember, your brilliance softly flies,A light reborn where endless darkness lies.”As he navigates treacherous politics, genetic evolution, and a destiny far greater than himself, Orion must uncover the truth, before the prophecy becomes his undoing.Tags:[Reincarnation | Fantasy | Superpowers | Survival | System | Transmigration | Evolution]

She was born into a powerful family of the nobility, a blue-blooded aristocrat as capable as any man. He rose from humble origins up the military ranks, an iron-blooded knight with high ambitions. A transaction for power severed her from her childhood sweetheart. A tardy encounter was the beginning of his and her vow to meet life and death under heaven, standing shoulder to shoulder.

Political intrigue, dynastic succession struggles. He trampled through it all in the toil of becoming emperor.

Old enmities became new disputes, concerning life and death of entire families. She entered once more into the palace, changing the entire political climate of their world.

Meeting once again, they had become strangers. The peach blossom were all fallen, no more than a golden age grown cold.

- Description from Novelupdates

The story begins as our female lead wakes up in a strange room and an unfamiliar body. She realizes that she has travelled back in time and her twenty-two year old spirit is now trapped in the body of a six year old girl. This girl child is the third daughter of Ning Guo’s Prime Minister Li and his seventh wife. Her name is Li Qing Luo and because her mother was originally from an entertainment house, Prime Minister Li and his other six wives treated them badly.

Her first day in that world, the whole family gathers to test the talent of the three daughters. Qing Lei, the eldest, is talented at playing the zither while Qing Fei’s calligraphy is incomparable. Everyone anticipates A’Luo’s failure as she had not exhibited any talent before, but that six year old child recites a famous Tang poem. The entire family is surprised that Qing Luo is able to write such a profound poem and her mother later tells her that Prime Minister Li is so harsh on his daughters because he needs to rely on them marrying well to secure his future. Qing Luo begins to study qin, qi, shu, hua (zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting) but hides her skill because she does not want to be sold in marriage to some prince or court official.

Six years later, A’Luo is now twelve and leaves the estate for the first time to participate at a flower viewing banquet. This is a special banquet because the Five Most Eligible Bachlors of Feng Cheng will be in attendance (there’s actually a more elegant name for them). These young men are: Crown Prince Liu Jian, Fourth Prince Liu Fei, the young An Qing Wang Liu Jue, the son of Prime Minister Gu Gu Tian Xiang, and the top scorer of the Imperial Examinations Cheng Si Yue. A’Luo sneaks off and almost falls into a river, but is saved by a handsome young man. Because he glanced at her bare legs a moment too long, A’Luo calls him a pervert, tries to push him into the river and runs off. The young man only laughs and vows to find her again.

- Description from Novelupdates

This world is not only as the public knows it; there is an underworld that ordinary people don't encounter.Government agents handle troubles in the shadows, while corporate assassins privately deal with issues.Assassins, mercenaries, arms dealers, and spies exist, along with a dark web that ties this world together, and tycoons who attempt to control everything with money.Gao Yi entered the underworld, unbeatable in close combat, carving out his own domain.But there are guns in this world. Beyond seven steps (close combats), guns are faster.Within seven steps, guns are both accurate and quick.Only within three steps does Gao Yi's punch become faster.Unable to beat them, he chose to join them, aiming to rule them all.To rule everything, become the king of killers in the eyes of mercenaries, the king of spies in the eyes of assassins, the king of killers in the eyes of spies, and the king of intelligence in the eyes of arms dealers.Until he is crowned king by the entire underworld, Gao Yi is the ultimate firepower.